4505 Canterra Tower
400 - 3rd Avenue S.W.
Calgary AB T2P 4H2

Direct Phone: 403.693.4311
Fax: 403.508.4349
Email:hsanderson@mlt.com

Insurance Law
Litigation

Heather Sanderson brings over 25 years of insurance and commercial litigation experience to MLT from her boutique firm, Polsky Sanderson. Heather is the author of The Comprehensive General Liability Policy: The Insuring Intent (Butterworths, 1989), and editor and contributing editor of Commercial General Liability Insurance (Butterworths, 2000). Both books are standard industry reference materials and are on the required reading lists at several Canadian community colleges and universities. Both works have been cited in numerous insurance publications and by courts across Canada.

Heather regularly provides advice to North American insurers and, on occasion, to European re-insurers on coverage issues as well as all issues related to the defence of covered claims. She has advised insurers on the drafting of policy wording, provided coverage opinions on property and liability policies of every description, defended property and casualty claims, litigated disability claims, defended uninsured actions and actions that fall exclusively within the self-insured retentions of insureds.

Heather has appeared before all levels of Courts in Alberta and was co-counsel with Len Polsky on the longest civil trial in the history of the Northwest Territories. Heather has also acted as an expert witness on insurance and civil litigation issues before the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the Quebec Superior Court.

• Admitted to the Alberta Bar
• LL.M. (Alberta, 1988)
• LL.B. (Honours, McGill, 1981)
• B.A. (Hon.), (Joint Honours, History and Political Science, McGill, 1978)
• Diploma (Social Studies, Vanier College, 1975)

• Graduate Assistantship (College of Law, University of Alberta, 1982)
• Designated as a McGill University Scholar (1978)
• The James McGill Scholarship (1978)

• Law Society of Alberta - Insurance Committee Member (2007 - Present)
• University of Calgary, Department of Risk Management - Guest Lecturer (1997 - 2007)
• The Insurance Law Quarterly, Alberta - Former Editor
• Canadian Insurance Law Review - Former Advisory Board Member
• Scouts Canada, Woodcreek 401 Scout Group - Beaver/Scout Leader (1995-2004)

• “Long Term Exposure Claims”. Speaker at Risk Management and Insurance 459, Managing Commercial Property and Liability Risks, Risk Management and Insurance Department, Faculty of Commerce, University of Calgary (April, 2006)
• Contributor to Negotiating Ethics and Best Practices in Civil Disputes, (working title) to be published by the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan, in 2007